


Can I Make It Any More Obvious?

by g_odalisque13



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - High School, Cheerleaders, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Denial of Feelings, F/F, First Dates, First Time, Fluff, Genderswap, High School, Romance, Sexuality Crisis, Skateboarding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 17:12:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17646599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/g_odalisque13/pseuds/g_odalisque13
Summary: She was a girl, and she was...also a girl. Nonetheless, it was pretty damn obvious. Lu Han wants to know what happens when a skater girl asks out a cheerleader. Fortunately, both she and Jongdae will find out. (sk8er boi AU)





	Can I Make It Any More Obvious?

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on 08012014 on [LJ](https://g-odalisque13.livejournal.com/84340.html).

Sehun bent over to stretch her hamstrings- muscles feeling tight from their last run-through of their routine. She was tempted not to go full-out the next time, but wondered if Jongin, who took her job as cheer captain more seriously than her job as Sehun’s best friend, would let her get away with it.

A loud clang from the metal bleachers had Sehun looking up from her baby pink, chipped nail polish to see two girls with their skateboards getting settled to watch their practice. Sehun frowned. There wasn’t any rule against watching, but she wasn’t used to random girls coming to observe them. Typically the only audience they had was the football players if they finished their own practice early.

“Hey, Jongin,” Sehun said, making her way over to where Jongin was helping one of the freshmen girls with a part of the routine, “There are some skater girls watching our practice…”

Jongin looked over to the bleachers and then back at Sehun, “So?”

“I dunno,” Sehun shrugged, feeling a little stupid for even telling Jongin, “It’s just weird.”

Jongin blinked at her before going back to going over the counts with the younger cheerleader and leaving Sehun feeling stupid, but also self-conscious because she could feel the eyes of the girls on her.

With what was hopefully a disinterested look, Sehun glanced back at the bleachers to try to identify the girls. One of them had long black hair that nearly reached her waist, but was otherwise dressed almost like a boy with an army green skull cap, ripped skinny jeans, and a too-big muscle t-shirt- high-top clad feet propped on the bench in front of her. Sehun had no clue who that was.

When Sehun realized who the other girl was, however, she felt her heart jump and her cheeks flush as she hastily looked away.

The girl’s wavy, brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing the thick, black-rimmed glasses that she always wore. She had on a t-shirt with some punk band’s name emblazoned across the chest, and her knee-high tube socks were clearly visible since she was in a denim mini skirt with a ripped hem.

Her name was Kim Jongdae and she was in Sehun’s European history class. And while she might not have been one of the most popular girls in school, or anything, Sehun couldn’t help but admire her easy confidence and sharp wit. She’d only ever briefly spoken to her, but it was enough for Sehun to know that the other girl completely unnerved her and she wasn’t even sure why. The last thing she needed was to have her observing their cheer practice. Sehun did not enjoy unnecessary stresses in her life.

Trying to look busy, Sehun pulled the elastic band from her hair and pulled her long, stick-straight hair into a tighter ponytail before untying and then retying both of her shoes.

When Jongin called for them to run their routine again, Sehun found herself going full-out- putting enough extra effort into being perfect that even Jongin looked confused despite her constant nagging for Sehun to put more energy into their practices. There was no harm in impressing their unexpected audience though, right?

\---

“Which one do you like, again?” Lu Han asked, setting her skateboard down next to her on the metal bleachers and leaning forward to get a better look at the cheerleaders.

Jongdae sighed, “Lu Han, I have literally told you five times. Sehun. The tall, thin one with the long ponytail. And the dead face.”

“Oh the dead face one!” Lu Han exclaimed, clapping her hands once in excitement, “Yeah, she’s pretty.”

Jongdae snorted and went back to staring at the girl in question. She had one class with Sehun and from day one, she hadn’t been able to look away from her model-like beauty. But her shallow interest quickly led to real interest when she started noticing little things about Sehun that endeared her to the other girl. Like the way she always tried to remain impassive when she actually had a playful and cute personality, which Jongdae had observed when she very not-creepily watched her with her friends at lunch. And the fact that she was actually really shy with people that she didn’t know well despite being considered one of the “popular” girls. She knew that Sehun doodled in the margins of her notebook every class, but got top marks on all of her exams. The more she learned about Sehun, the more she liked her and wanted to get close to her.

Of course, as soon as Lu Han, her best friend, had found out about Jongdae’s crush (on a cheerleader, no less), she hadn’t shut up about it. Which led to her convincing Jongdae that they should watch one of the cheer practices. Though with her current view of Sehun in tiny cotton shorts, bending over to retie her shoes, Jongdae couldn’t exactly complain. Maybe Lu Han had had her first good idea ever.

“Hey, is that the captain?” Lu Han asked, interrupting Jongdae’s train of thought about what it would be like to throw Sehun’s legs over her shoulders and- “She’s really cute.”

Jongdae followed Lu Han’s line of sight to a tan girl with big eyes, a high ponytail, and equally short shorts. She definitely was pretty- there was no doubt about that- but Jongdae only had eyes for Sehun.

“I guess so,” she shrugged, going back to watching Sehun fidget and keep covertly glancing in their direction.

“Maybe we should make this a regular thing,” Lu Han suggested, eyes glued to the curve of the cheer captain’s backside, “I don’t have any after school commitments.”

“Of course you don’t,” Jongdae quipped. But they both knew that her schedule was just as wide open.

“What do you think would happen if I asked out a cheerleader?” Lu Han mused, ignoring Jongdae’s uncharacteristically weak insult.

Jongdae was actually wondering the same thing.

\---

Jongin shut her locker, mentally going over what homework she had and how she was going to get it all done with the four hours of dance class she had that night. She was so focused on her own thoughts that she nearly knocked into a girl standing behind her.

“Sorry,” she hastily apologized, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and barely glancing at the girl she’d bumped into.

“Hey, Jongin, right?” the girl asked, an unexpected hand on her arm, instead of just saying that’s okay, like Jongin expected.

She blinked in surprise at the smiling, cherubic face of the girl standing in front of her. The girl had her long, black hair in a messy bun on top of her head and she was in what looked like a boys t-shirt, leggings, and a pair of scuffed up high tops. Jongin had no clue who she was or why she was talking to her.

“Uh, yeah,” she said uncomfortably and the girl beamed.

“I’m Lu Han,” she offered, “I saw your cheer practice yesterday.”

Oh, she must have been one of the skater girls Sehun was talking about. Jongin had honestly forgotten.

“You were really good,” Lu Han went on, “I’ve never really watched cheerleading or anything,” she said, gesturing to herself, and Jongin supposed that no, she didn’t look like the cheerleading type, “But I really liked watching you.”

Jongin opened her mouth to respond only to find that the way Lu Han had phrased that- watching you, not watching the squad- had her pausing.

Lu Han, however, didn’t seem deterred by Jongin’s silence.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go get something to eat?”

Jongin stared at her in confusion.

Why was this random girl asking her to go get something to eat with her?

“I can’t,” Jongin replied, trying not to over think things, “I have dance class tonight.”

Lu Han’s face fell before she smiled again hopefully, “What about tomorrow?”

Jongin frowned. Why wasn’t she going away?

“I have cheer practice again tomorrow.”

Lu Han looked disappointed and Jongin tried to coach herself not to feel guilty.

“Maybe I’ll come watch again,” Lu Han told her when Jongin just stood there.

“Okay,” she shrugged. It wasn’t her business what this girl did with her time. If she wanted to watch the squad practice, she was certainly allowed to.

“See you around, Jongin,” Lu Han said, lips curving up in a way that made Jongin feel kind of strange before she was walking away, leaving Jongin completely confused.

And late.

Jongin had to speed walk in order to make it to the dance studio on time.

\---

“Hey, Sehun,” Sehun heard, followed by a tap on the shoulder.

Sehun turned around in her seat to find Jongdae leaning forward at her desk and smiling at her. Sehun felt her stomach twist.

“Hey,” she replied, trying to play it cool.

“I saw your cheerleading practice yesterday,” Jongdae told her with a friendly grin and Sehun had to stop herself from demanding why.

“I know.” Shit. Should she have pretended she didn’t notice? Was it weird that she’d been kind of watching Jongdae watch her? That was probably weird.

“You’re really good,” Jongdae said earnestly and Sehun struggled to hide the pleased grin that was trying to stretch across her face. There was nothing she could do about the way her cheeks flushed at the compliment, however.

Sehun wondered how bitchy it would seem if she didn’t say thank you because she was afraid that if she did, she’d sound as giddy as she felt. But she needn’t have worried because Jongdae was talking again before she could make a decision.

“I think Lu Han and I are gonna come watch again today, if that’s okay.”

“The other girl you were with?” Sehun asked before she could stop herself.

Jongdae nodded, “But if we’re too distracting, we can skip it…”

There was something about the way her eyes were dancing behind her glasses that had Sehun feeling like she was being teased- like Jongdae knew just how painfully aware of her presence she’d been the entire time. But instead of feeling angry that Jongdae was poking fun at her, she felt her heart flutter in response.

“It’s fine,” she said with a shrug and what was hopefully an indifferent attitude.

“Great,” Jongdae grinned, looking at Sehun like she knew some sort of a secret that Sehun wasn’t privy to. It made her uneasy, but at the same time, she couldn’t deny that she was enjoying the attention.

Because Sehun had always thought that Jongdae was cool. Every girl had some girl that they wished they could be a little bit more like. That was who Jongdae was to Sehun. That was why she could hear her pulse in her ears when Jongdae told her that she’d see her later with an easy quirk of her lips. That’s why Sehun felt like her stomach was in knots the whole afternoon. That’s definitely why Sehun carefully touched up her makeup before practice despite the fact that she was just going to sweat. And that was absolutely the only reason Sehun could practically feel Jongdae’s eyes on her as she stretched and tumbled and ran through the routine, making sure that she was executing everything to the best of her ability.

When Sehun caught sight of the two girls leaving as Jongin called them in at the end of practice, she couldn’t help but feel like whatever this was- Jongdae paying her special attention- was far from over. And the knot of anticipation in her stomach thrilled her as much as it terrified her.

\---

Lu Han spotted Jongin as soon as she left the locker room- the last one to leave since she’d stayed behind, practicing the routine alone after the other girls had gone to get their things from their lockers. Jongdae had gone home as soon as the practice had ended- not wanting to come on too strong. But Lu Han had no patience when it came to things like that, so she opted to wait for Jongin in order to invite her out again.

Lu Han was nothing, if not persistent.

“Jongin!” she called, finding it stupidly endearing when Jongin jumped, startled, like Lu Han had been hiding to intentionally scare her.

When Jongin saw that it was her and not some sort of danger, her fearful expression changed to one of confusion, glancing behind her like Lu Han might have been there for someone else despite the fact that Lu Han had told her that she’d come to watch and that she’d very clearly called Jongin’s name.

“Oh, hi…” Jongin trailed off, obviously having forgotten Lu Han’s name. And while that was a little disheartening, Lu Han was determined not to give up!

“Lu Han,” she filled in for her and Jongin smiled in gratitude.

“Sorry,” she flushed, “I’m not very good with names…or dates or…anything like that.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not either,” Lu Han assured her, adjusting her backwards snapback and stepping up next to Jongin in order to walk with her out of the gym.

“You remembered my name,” Jongin innocently observed and Lu Han smiled.

“You’re pretty hard to forget.”

Jongin seemed completely at a loss for how to respond to that, but Lu Han wasn’t complaining. Instead, she was thoroughly enjoying the pretty pink flush dusting the other’s cheeks. She always did go for the cute ones.

“So since you’re done with practice,” Lu Han plowed on, holding the gymnasium door open for Jongin to step into the warm evening air, “Do you want to go get a snack?”

The wide eyes Jongin turned on her at the invitation made it seem like this was the first time Lu Han had asked her out. Lu Han smiled at her hopefully, noting the tiny mascara flakes that were under Jongin's eyes from sweating during practice. She wanted to rub her thumbs over the soft skin to wipe them away, but knew that Jongin would surely startle at that.

“I have a lot of homework tonight,” Jongin finally said after staring at Lu Han for what felt like an eternity, like she was trying to work out what was going on in Lu Han’s head. Lu Han thought she was being pretty obvious, but whatever.

“So much that you can’t even take twenty minutes to get a snack with me?” she pressed, pouting in a way she knew was adorable and irresistible to most people she’d tried it on.

Jongin nodded dumbly and Lu Han was so distracted by the swipe of Jongin’s tongue over her lower lip that it took her a second to realize that she’d been turned down.

Even she could see that she shouldn’t push it.

“Alright,” she sighed, not hiding her disappointment, but still remaining teasing about it, “I hope we can eat together soon, though.”

Lu Han reached out and lightly tugged at Jongin’s ponytail, leaving her adorably dumbfounded, before smiling playfully as she turned to walk away.

Maybe she hadn’t succeeded yet, but Lu Han was far from defeated.

\---

“I mean, they’ve come to practice twice now,” Sehun was saying, “Just, like, all of the sudden! It’s really strange, right?”

“I guess,” Jongin shrugged, feeling something twisting uncomfortably in her gut. This was a subject she’d have preferred not to touch on. She had much more important things to worry about. Like keeping her grades up so her parents wouldn’t force her to cut down on the number of dance classes she was taking.

“And Jongdae has been talking to me in class, too,” Sehun went on, sitting cross-legged on Jongin’s bed with her calculus notebook open in front of her even though she hadn’t yet looked at it, “I mean, she talked to me a little before. But now it’s every day. Which is weird.”

Jongin made a sound of acknowledgement, hoping that Sehun would drop it they could actually start studying.

“I guess it isn’t totally weird that she’d talk to me,” Sehun backtracked, gaze as restless as her jiggling feet, “But, like, on top of coming to cheer practice to watch…there has to be a reason, right?”

“I don’t know, Sehun,” Jongin muttered, feeling anxiety over the uncertainty she felt regarding Lu Han rising up in the back of her throat.

“But they must have some sort of motivation,” Sehun insisted, nibbling on her thumbnail thoughtfully and frowning down at her knees, “They aren’t the usual type to take an interest in cheerleading.”

“That’s just it,” Jongin snapped, voicing a thought she hadn’t fully realized until it was coming out of her mouth, “They aren’t. There is no good reason for them to be suddenly so interested, so they’re probably just messing with us or something. Maybe it’s a joke. I don’t know, but does it really matter?”

Sehun was looking at her in shock, like Jongin had raised her voice even though she hadn’t.

“Let’s just ignore them and I’m sure they’ll lose interest, okay?” she tried, locking eyes with Sehun and trying to communicate how much she just wanted to forget the whole thing, “But in the meantime, we have a calculus exam to study for.”

Sehun opened her mouth like she was going to refute what Jongin had said before she closed it again and nodded in acquiescence.

Jongin felt a bit guilty for speaking so harshly, but hopefully Lu Han and Jongdae would leave them alone and then they could just forget all about it.

\---

Jongdae was no sadist, but she had to admit that she thoroughly enjoyed watching Sehun try to not turn around and look at her all through history class. She could see the tension in Sehun’s frame and the way she very carefully didn’t turn her head so as to accidentally catch a glimpse of Jongdae and it was really cute.

Was it still too early to ask her out? Jongdae didn’t think so. Which was why she fell into step with Sehun after class and smiled to herself when the other girl’s cheeks turned red immediately.

“Your back handsprings looked really good yesterday,” Jongdae told her and Sehun ducked her head self-consciously.

“Thank you,” she muttered, biting her bottom lip and looking like she was trying not to smile.

In a perfect world in which they were together, Jongdae would have grabbed Sehun’s hands to get her to face her and then she’d have kissed those lips until Sehun couldn’t even try to stop the smile from coming.

However, they were just in the regular world where that would probably earn Jongdae a punch in the face, or at least a very confused, scarred Sehun.

So instead, Jongdae opted to go through with her initial plan to ask Sehun out.

What would happen if she asked out a popular cheerleader? Lu Han’s question was going to be answered in a moment.

“Are you free to get dinner with me tonight?” Jongdae asked before Sehun could scurry away like she often seemed to whenever Jongdae tried talking to her.

The look Sehun gave her was genuinely surprised, like nothing could have prepared her for Jongdae’s innocent (or not?) invitation.

“U-um,” she stuttered, looking around like she was afraid someone had overheard what Jongdae had said.

Maybe this had been a bad idea. She’d thought that Sehun had been interested and it had never seemed like Sehun thought any less of Jongdae despite the fact that they hung out with very different crowds, but maybe she’d been mistaken.

“I have dance class tonight,” Sehun blurted out when Jongdae had been about to take back what she’d said.

Sehun shifted her weight and fiddled with the hem of her mini skirt with the hand that wasn’t holding onto her books, lower lip clamped between her teeth again.

“It’s okay-” Jongdae started to tell her, not wanting Sehun to feel too bad. It was probably best that Sehun was actually busy so they could both pretend that that’s all the rejection meant.

“But!” Sehun cut her off, tongue wetting her lips nervously, “I’m free tomorrow.”

Jongdae was left with her mouth open, ready to finish the sentence she’d started before Sehun had interrupted her.

And then she was grinning, watching as Sehun fidgeted nervously and shifted from foot to foot even as she tried to keep her face blank.

“Great,” Jongdae said and could tell that Sehun let out a relieved breath at that, as though Jongdae hadn’t been the one to initiate the date, “Do you want to meet by the fountain downtown at six tomorrow, then?”

“Okay,” Sehun breathed, straightening up and shooting an unimpressed look at a boy who was staring at her long legs, “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With that, Sehun shot her a small smile before schooling her face back into its default expression, tossing her hair over her shoulder haughtily, and striding away with maybe a little bit more of a bounce in her step than she usually had.

Jongdae fought against fist-pumping in the middle of the hall. Her newly dyed fire-engine red hair was garnering enough attention as it was.

\---

“Hey, Jongin!” Lu Han called, propelling herself forward on her skateboard to catch up to Jongin outside of their school. It was Friday afternoon, so this was her last chance to talk to Jongin before the weekend.

To her credit, Jongin seemed a little less startled this time.

“Hi,” Jongin replied, still seeming so confused as to why Lu Han was talking to her, which was, in turn, perplexing to Lu Han who knew she had the subtly of a neon sign.

“Do you remember my name, this time?” Lu Han teased, stepping off her skateboard and easily using her foot to tilt the board up to grab hold of it.

Jongin flushed, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear and shyly murmuring, “Lu Han.”

Lu Han cheered, unconcerned about the stares she received from a few passersby.

“How about I treat you to coffee as a reward for remembering my name?” she offered, trying to tighten her ponytail with the hand that wasn’t occupied holding her skateboard and only managing to mess it up more.

Jongin seemed to choke on nothing before she said, “I don’t drink coffee.”

“Tea, then,” Lu Han amended, “Or juice. Or milk. Or ice cream. Or-“

“There’s my mom,” Jongin cut her off, face red and eyes looking anywhere but at Lu Han, “Ihavetogo.”

Jongin made an impressively hasty exit, climbing into a silver minivan and disappearing from view before Lu Han could try to insist. Or plan for another day.

She let out an annoyed huff as the car drove away. Getting Jongin to go on a date with her was proving to be more difficult than she would have imagined.

\---

Sehun was early for her…date? No, couldn’t be date. Meet up. Her meet up with Jongdae. She lived near enough to the downtown area of her small town that she could walk, but in walking too fast in anticipation, she’d arrived five minutes early.

After school, Sehun had gone home and changed out of her skinny jeans and blouse combo and into a pink ruffled sundress that she hadn’t had the opportunity to wear yet. She’d swapped her beat up black flats for a pair of flat sandals (she almost went for heels, but then remembered how much shorter than her Jongdae already was) and had re-straightened her already straight hair just to make sure it looked perfect. But now she was left to stew in her nerves as she waited for Jongdae to arrive.

As she looked down at the hundreds of coins at the bottom of the fountain, she was taken by a sudden thought: what if Jongdae didn’t even show up? What if Jongin had been right and Jongdae had just been messing with her? What if-

“Hey, Sehun,” Jongdae greeted her, walking easily up to where she was standing at the edge of the fountain and smiling at her.

Jongdae was in the same clothes that she’d worn to school that day- a band t-shirt, dark wash skinnies, and her green, low top converse- but Sehun still thought that she looked amazing.

In a normal way. Like how she’d appreciate any girl who looked nice. Right.

She could feel Jongdae taking in her ensemble and she flushed.

“You look really nice,” Jongdae told her earnestly.

Sehun quietly thanked her, mostly managing to bite back the giggle that wanted to escape.

“Are you hungry?” Jongdae asked then, tilting her head to get Sehun to follow as she started walking.

“A little,” Sehun replied honestly, because while she knew she actually was hungry, she was too preoccupied with the butterflies in her stomach to notice.

“And how do you feel about hotdogs?”

Sehun looked at Jongdae like she was out of her mind. Was that code for something or..?

“Because I was thinking of showing you the seven wonders of our town, and the hotdog stand is the first stop.”

Sehun blinked.

“We have seven wonders?”

Jongdae shrugged, looking over at Sehun and grinning, “I think we do.”

“Okay…”

“So hotdogs?” Jongdae prompted, leading the way toward the lone hotdog vender in their little town.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Great!” Jongdae grabbed Sehun’s elbow to steer her in the right direction and even just the brief contact had Sehun’s heart jumping, “Off to Wonder Number One!”

\---

“So what’s number two?” Sehun asked as she swallowed the last bite of her hotdog, chasing it down with the bottle of water Jongdae had bought for her.

“We’re walking there now,” Jongdae informed her, having already finished her hotdog, which Sehun was immensely grateful for because who knew watching Jongdae eat a hotdog would be so enticing? And Sehun wasn’t even a dude. She was ashamed.

Sehun looked around, trying to guess what the next wonder was. There wasn't really anything in their town that she found particularly interesting. She supposed that she could understand why the hotdog vendor was one considering how small their town was. Most other small towns probably didn't have any street food. But six more wonders in their boring town?

“Ta da!” Jongdae announced, stopping on the sidewalk.

Sehun stopped beside her, looking around to try to figure out what she was supposed to be seeing.

“Um...”

“This alley,” Jongdae specified, but Sehun wasn't sure what was so special about it.

“Why-?”

“If you just look at this alley and ignore everything else around you and kind of squint, you can almost imagine that you're in a big city,” she explained.

Sehun looked back at the alley, doing what Jongdae said and ignoring the small-town vibe that was surrounding them. And strangely enough, Jongdae was right. The alley was small and dirty with a dumpster and a fire escape coming down the side of one of the buildings. If she hadn't been aware of where this alley was located, she'd probably think that it was in a sizable city and not in their little nowhere town.

“See?” Jongdae asked eagerly and Sehun laughed despite herself.

“You're right,” she admitted, “I never would have even thought to look at this alley before.”

Jongdae beamed.

“Where's number three?” Sehun asked, curiosity peaked.

“We have to drive there,” Jongdae informed her, turning back in the direction they'd come from and motioning for Sehun to follow.

“I don't have a car...”

“Don't worry,” Jongdae said, smiling over her shoulder in a way that had Sehun's heart picking up speed, “I drove here.”

Five minutes later found Sehun in the passenger seat of Jongdae's beat up car that was at least ten years old.

“It was my cousin's,” she'd explained, “He didn't take very good care of it, but he sold it to me for next to nothing, so I can't really complain.”

Jongdae's skateboard was in the backseat and there was a skull pendent hanging from the rear view mirror. It was silly, but Sehun felt special that she'd been invited into Jongdae's private space. It wasn't like it was her bedroom (she flushed at that thought, but quickly dismissed it), but it was still a place that not just any, random person would be welcome.

“How long have you been cheerleading?” Jongdae asked as they turned onto a residential street, leaving the town center behind them.

“Since I was a freshman,” Sehun told her, tucking her hair behind her ear and then quickly untucking it so it wouldn't get bent that way, “But I've been in dance classes since I was three. And I did gymnastics in middle school. Jongin and I both did gymnastics because we decided that we wanted to do cheerleading in high school.”

“All of that is really amazing to me,” Jongdae said, glancing at Sehun before looking back out at the road, “Because I can't dance or do flips or anything like that.” She laughed and Sehun almost wished she wasn't so charmed.

“You can do other stuff though,” Sehun pointed out, probably unnecessarily, “Like skateboard. I'd probably fall off.”

Jongdae chuckled, “I can teach you sometime, if you want.”

Sehun imagined Jongdae helping her get her balance with her hands on her waist and felt her stomach swoop.

“Maybe,” she replied coolly and Jongdae just grinned like she knew what Sehun was thinking.

“Well, here we are,” Jongdae announced, pulling over and parking next to the curb.

“Here?” Sehun questioned, climbing out of the car and looking around at the nondescript street. It looked just like every other street of houses in their small town.

“Over here,” Jongdae beckoned and Sehun followed her to the sidewalk in front of a small house that was painted forest green. And then she looked at the front lawn and wow.

She'd noticed the small fountain with a sculpture of a boy and girl under an umbrella that was positioned next to the narrow path to the front door, but she'd never seen the vast assortment of miniature statues covering the lawn. There were little houses arranged like they were in a neighborhood. There were storefronts and cars and even tiny little people. It was like an entire, miniature town was set up in this front yard and Sehun had never seen anything like it.

“Wow,” she breathed, bending down to get a better look, “Who even knew this was here? I mean, obviously you, but...”

Jongdae laughed, crouching down next to her and looking at Sehun instead of at the miniature set up.

Sehun could feel Jongdae's gaze on her as she looked at the pair of girls in front of the tiny ice cream shop.

“I'm glad you like it,” Jongdae said, voice soft and Sehun felt the fluttering in her stomach increase.

So far, she'd done a pretty good job of convincing herself that Jongdae wasn't interested in her in a romantic way, but with the sun setting over them as they quietly looked at this little, fanciful town, Sehun couldn't stop the way her heart was racing. What if this really was a date...?

“Come on,” Jongdae urged, gently tugging on Sehun's elbow as she stood up, “We should go if we're going to be able to see number four before we lose the light.”

Sehun followed her back to the car, feeling like she was floating in a trance with the way her head felt fuzzy and her skin was tingling where Jongdae's fingers had touched.

The short drive to the next place was quiet, but not because they didn't have anything to talk about. It was as though the air was charged with something- like something important was hovering around them and neither of them wanted to wreck it.

“Number four,” Jongdae told her, parking against the curb again and motioning across the street, “We don't need to get out of the car to see this one.”

Sehun looked at the house Jongdae had pointed to, sticking out like a sore thumb in a row of typical colonial houses with perfectly manicured lawns.

This house looked like it had been put together with scraps from a junkyard- different types of siding making the outer walls look like patchwork, strange metal and wood pieces affixed to the roof, and the window shutters all different.

“What-?”

“I don't even know,” Jongdae replied, knowing just what Sehun was thinking, and her laugh broke some of the nearly suffocating anticipation that had filled the car.

“It's so ugly!” Sehun marveled and Jongdae chuckled again.

“Yes, it is.”

Sehun snorted and found herself smiling at Jongdae even as she fought with herself over what all of this meant.

Not the strange things stapled to the house. Who knew what those meant? But the way Jongdae looked at her and the fact that she'd spent the past couple of hours taking Sehun on a tour of their town. Could she really...?

“Where's your house from here?” Jongdae asked and Sehun was brought out of her musings.

“But we only saw four wonders,” she pointed out, “I thought you said there were seven.”

Jongdae grinned as she pulled away from the curb, “I can't show them all to you in one day. I'll take you to the other three next time.”

Sehun flushed and smiled into her lap at the idea of next time.

\---

It was only a five minute drive to Sehun's house from there, so it was almost too soon when Jongdae pulled into the driveway and cut the engine.

“Thanks for coming with me on my weird tour,” Jongdae said, turning toward Sehun and shooting her a sheepish smile.

“Thank you for taking me,” Sehun replied shyly.

Jongdae was looking at her so softly that Sehun was nearly frozen in her seat, heart pounding so hard she thought that Jongdae must have been able to hear it.

Sehun might have been able to previously make an argument that Jongdae wasn't interested in her like that, but in that moment, it was impossible to deny that this had been a date. At least in Jongdae's eyes. And probably Sehun's as well.

Jongdae leaning in didn't catch Sehun by surprise, exactly. After the realization that the other girl was, in fact, romantically interested in her, it was basically what Sehun had been expecting. That didn't mean that she was ready for it, though.

At the last second, Sehun leaned back and quickly opened the car door to stumble out into her driveway- heart slamming against her ribcage and hands shaking with what could have been reality had Sehun let it.

“Thanks again!” she said, voice shaky and too high, “See you Monday!”

And then she was high-tailing it into her house, not having the guts to look back to see Jongdae's reaction to her embarrassingly hasty retreat.

With the front door closed behind her, Sehun slumped against the wall of the entryway- hand over her heart and breath coming fast like she'd run the whole way home.

The reality that, had she let her, Jongdae would have kissed her rested heavily on Sehun's mind, only overshadowed by the overwhelmingly undeniable epiphany that Sehun had really, really wanted her to.

\---

It was nine PM on a Friday night, and while most high school students would consider that way too early for bed, Jongin was positively wiped out. On top of her full day of school, she had had four hours of dance class followed by an hour of studying in order to get some of her homework out of the way. Then there was the fact that Jongin had to be up by seven the next morning to cheer at the football game the following day that had her collapsing into bed as soon as she'd showered- wet hair soaking through her pillowcase and making the fabric stick uncomfortably to her cheek when she rolled over.

But for as tired as she was, Jongin was kept awake by her racing brain- as always trying to figure out when she'd get all of her homework done over the weekend and over the next week with her cheerleading practice and dance classes. And then she couldn't stop herself from going over the routines she'd worked on that day as well as trying to figure out a better formation for the cheer routine after the flyers dismounted and they moved into the dance section.

She knew that she would be awake for hours if she let her brain go, and she just couldn't afford that with how busy she was going to be.

There was really only one thing that would quiet her mind and tire her out, both, so before she could get too stressed about the paper she had due that Wednesday, Jongin slid her hand down her torso and over the cotton of her underwear to press between her widening thighs.

She never thought about anything when she did this, instead just focusing on the tingles of pleasure that radiated through her body at each pass of her fingers over her fabric-covered core until the material was damp against her fingertips. Then she'd slide her hand under the waistband of her underwear and stroke against her wetness until she came- mind blanking and body surging through each wave of pleasure until she was exhausted and ready to fall into sleep.

It was always just the colors sparking behind her closed lids and the focus to find release that consumed her when she pleasured herself. It was a task that served a purpose and did no more than that. It was an enjoyable task, sure. But it wasn't about her desire that stemmed from the need for another person. It was just about her and her body, plain and simple.

But that night, when she was too close to the edge to care or to stop it, images of long hair and tight jeans and bright smiles that were too enthusiastic to be considered pretty flashed through her mind as she lost control of her body and came.

That was the first time she failed to sleep even after bringing herself to orgasm- plagued with an endless reel of images of a girl she never predicted she'd give a second thought.

This couldn't continue.

___

The wheels of Jongdae's skateboard hit the pavement with a clack, and Jongdae internally congratulated herself on landing the newest trick she was working on. If it had just been her and Lu Han at the skate park like it sometimes was, she would have cheered out loud, but she didn't want to break the concentration of the other skaters there. And since it was a Saturday, there were quite a few.

“Hey,” Lu Han said, rolling up on her skateboard and pushing off the ground to skate around Jongdae in a circle, “Your thing is here.”

Jongdae quirked a brow, “What? My thing?”

Despite the fact that they were best friends, Jongdae had no idea what Lu Han was talking about half the time.

Lu Han nodded like Jongdae was the strange one for not immediately knowing what she meant and gestured over Jongdae's shoulder.

Jongdae turned, expecting to see something...well, she wasn't sure what. But what she was not expecting to see was Sehun hovering uncertainly at the entrance to the skate park.

They locked eyes then and Jongdae felt her heart leap in response.

Their date the previous day had been amazing- better than Jongdae had anticipated. They'd had plenty to talk about despite having different interests and Sehun had seemed to enjoy Jongdae's lame tour of the wonders of their town. But Jongdae was kicking herself because she had to go and ruin what would have been the perfect evening by trying to kiss Sehun and probably scaring the shit out of her.

Sure, the date had gone well, but Jongdae wasn't sure whether Sehun had even realized that Jongdae was treating it like a date. That was definitely something she should have made sure of before she'd gone and tried to kiss her without having any idea of whether or not she was even interested.

In Jongdae's defense, though, Sehun had seemed interested at the time.

Still, Jongdae was doing everything in her power not to fixate on her own dumb, impulsive mistake.

Taking a deep breath, Jongdae dismounted her board and picked it up to walk calmly over to Sehun. She didn't want to appear too eager, but she couldn't help the hope that flared in her chest at the simple fact that Sehun was there, on Jongdae's turf, looking extremely uncomfortable and also like she'd tried to dress appropriately so she wouldn't stand out too much. Unfortunately, oversized t-shirts with Paris screen printed in Helvetica font weren't super commonplace in the skate park. Nor were pristine white Keds. Jongdae gave her points for trying, though.  
“  
Hey, Sehun,” Jongdae greeted her, smiling at the taller girl and hoping that Sehun couldn't see the nerves she was feeling just by looking at her.

“Hi,” Sehun replied shyly and Jongdae was overcome with fondness even as she prepared herself for the worst.

“What's up?”

“I, uh...” Sehun reached back to fiddle with her ponytail as she glanced to the side at the other boarders practicing, “I just...wanted to thank you again for...yesterday.”

Jongdae smiled, watching Sehun fidget and smooth her hands over her denim-covered thighs.

“It was no problem,” she told her, “I had a lot of fun.”

“Me too,” Sehun giggled before quickly schooling her expression back into something more neutral.

Was it normal to be so endeared by Sehun trying so hard to keep her composure all the time?

“I'm sorry for leaving so fast though,” Sehun hastily added, cheeks pinking and gaze everywhere, but toward Jongdae.

“It's fine,” Jongdae said, going for a light-hearted chuckle and wondering how she was supposed to assure Sehun that it was safe to spend time with her without worrying about Jongdae trying to kiss her all the time, “I was...I shouldn't have-”

“No!” Sehun cut her off before she could even figure out how to end that sentence, “I...”

Sehun swiped over her lower lip with her tongue, finally looking Jongdae in the face.

And then, before Jongdae could even process what Sehun might have been gearing up for, Sehun had surged forward and pressed her lips against Jongdae's so quickly that Jongdae thought that maybe she'd imagined it when it was over. Except she knew it had really happened based on how red Sehun's face was and the fact that she looked like she wanted to jump out of her skin.

“Sorry, I-”

Jongdae saved her the trouble of apologizing when she grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her forward so their lips could meet again, longer this time and more enjoyable considering they both had the time to actively participate.

When she pulled back, Sehun looked shocked, but pleased, and Jongdae couldn't stop her grin. Not that she had any reason to.

“Do you want to get dinner?” she asked, fingers still wrapped around Sehun's slender wrist.

Sehun giggled nervously and didn't stop herself so forcefully, “Okay.”

Jongdae beamed.

\---

Lu Han was happy for Jongdae. She really was. Jongdae was her best friend, after all. So the fact that Jongdae and Sehun had gotten together was a good thing. Except it just reminded her of how much progress she wasn’t making with Jongin.

It just pushed her to be that much more motivated to get a date with Jongin come Monday morning.

Even thought Lu Han was far from a morning person, she found herself approaching Jongin’s locker before the first bell had even rung. Though Jongin looked even more exhausted than Lu Han felt. Maybe this wasn’t the best plan, but by then, Jongin had already seen her, so there was nowhere to go but forward.

“Good morning, Jongin,” Lu Han greeted, trying to overcome both her tiredness and Jongin’s with enthusiasm, “How was your weekend?”

Lu Han couldn’t tell if Jongin seemed more disinterested or alarmed by her presence, which was a pretty weird combination.

“It was okay,” Jongin said, not meeting her eyes.

Based on her body language, Lu Han had a feeling that it hadn’t been so okay, but didn’t push it.

“So I was wondering if you wanted to come to a concert this Friday,” Lu Han continued, figuring she might as well get right to the point.

Jongin looked at her with an unreadable expression, so Lu Han pressed on with her best argument in favor of Jongin attending.

“Sehun is coming,” she told her, “So it’ll be Sehun, Jongdae, me, and hopefully you…”

“I have to cheer on Saturday morning,” Jongin told her, posture tense.

“Sehun does too, then, right?” Lu Han ventured, “I don’t think we’ll be out that late-“

“Sehun can do what she wants,” Jongin cut her off, an edge to her voice that Lu Han had never heard before, “Why do you keep talking to me?”

Lu Han gaped. She hadn’t thought her blatant interest in Jongin could have been a mystery.

“I like you,” she said simply.

“You don’t know me,” Jongin argued, brows furrowed.

Lu Han shrugged, “I like what I know so far, and I want to get to know you better.”

Jongin was still frowning.

“I don’t have time to get to know people.”

Lu Han laughed before realizing that Jongin was completely serious.

“How is that po-“

“I just don’t, okay?” Jongin snapped and then immediately looked down like she was ashamed of her own tone, “So just…just stop, okay? Please.”

Lu Han was speechless.

She’d never thought that she’d been bothering Jongin so much.

She nodded slowly, heart sinking, “Okay. I’ll stop.”

Jongin let out a breath and her shoulders slumped.

“Thanks,” she said, sounding tired, “See you around.”

“See you,” Lu Han replied hollowly, watching Jongin walk away as the bitter ache of disappointment weighed her down.  
\---

 

It was weird to see Sehun so openly bubbly.

Typically, she reserved her unabashed smiles for when she was around only her closest friends, but ever since she and Jongdae had started dating, Sehun had been walking around with a skip in her step and a little smile on her face that grew when she either saw Jongdae or mentioned her. Or sometimes even when she thought about her. Though that last one was just conjecture considering Jongin didn’t actually know what was going on in Sehun’s head.

Jongin was glad to see her best friend so happy, but seeing her greet Jongdae with a kiss was going to take some getting used to- for her and the rest of the student body as well, it seemed, since their relationship had been all anyone could talk about for two days.

It wasn’t everyday that a cheerleader started dating a skater and even less often did a cheerleader date a skater girl.

Jongin wasn’t surprised to see Jongdae in the bleachers with her skateboard during cheer practice, watching Sehun with a fond look on her face, which in turn, was making Sehun blush.

It seemed that Jongdae was going to become a fixture at their practices.

She was also not surprised that Jongdae was there alone. It wasn’t like she’d expected Lu Han to show up. Especially after she’d told her to lay off. Lu Han really had seemed like she’d heard what Jongin told her loud and clear.

Jongin had to remind herself not to feel guilty and that she was within her rights to tell Lu Han that she just didn’t have the time to make a new friend. She really didn’t with dance and cheerleading and studying. She just didn’t have time to be social. The only time she was even social outside her extracurriculars was when Sehun invited herself over or forcibly dragged Jongin out.

She just didn’t have time.

And that was most definitely not disappointment she felt when she left the locker room and wasn’t accosted by an enthusiastic Lu Han on her skateboard.

Whenever she’d had guys show an interest in her, she told them no and they’d always go away. She’d never felt guilty before. She’d never felt the absence of any of the guys when they stopped pursuing her. This was ridiculous.

She just needed to focus. She needed to throw herself into cheer and dance and her studies until she wasn’t feeling so off balance.

And until that happened, she’d just have to avoid looking into the bleachers during cheer practice so she couldn’t see the empty spot next to Jongdae.  
\---

 

There was one thing that Lu Han and Jongdae liked more than skateboarding and that was music. Neither of them were really the choir type, so the only way they really got to experience music, outside of their ipods and laptop speakers, was by going to concerts to see local bands.

That Friday, their favorite local band, the Hellcats, whom they’d been following since they’d formed about a year prior and had even developed a friendship with were playing, so in theory, Lu Han should have been in a wonderful mood as she stood in the crush of people in the cramped venue, waiting for the band to come out to play their set. However, the sting of Jongin’s rejection hadn’t quite faded yet and Lu Han couldn’t stop herself from wishing that Jongin had taken her up on her offer to attend.

In addition, Jongdae and Sehun were being super touchy, which only served to remind Lu Han of what she didn’t have.

At school, the new couple seemed to keep the affection at a minimum since they were in public. But here, where everyone was just there for the music, they didn’t give half a shit about what Jongdae and Sehun were doing. So they were free to be as disgusting as they pleased while Lu Han had the misfortune of standing by and watching them.

It was a tight fit with all the people in the venue, but did they really need to be plastered together like they were?

And did they really have to keep planting teasing kisses on each other's lips?

None of this seemed very rock and roll to Lu Han. Though to be fair, she was biased in the sense that she was bitter.

But still.

Finally, after what seemed like ages of having to endure Jongdae's and Sehun's new found couple-ness, the lights dimmed and the crowd roared and Lu Han let herself get swept along with the opening guitar riff- all too eager to forget about the disappointment that had been clinging to her for the last four days. She could ignore it for now, at least.

\---

Sehun unlocked the front door to her house and led Jongdae inside. Her parents were out of town for the weekend- at the wedding of one of their college friend’s daughters- so they’d told her that she could have a friend stay over. She supposed that they didn’t mean for her to have her girlfriend stay with her, but given that they didn’t yet know she had a girlfriend, they hadn’t specifically said not to either.

They’d been dating for two weeks by that point and Sehun was dying for some time alone with Jongdae. They saw each other every day at school and had hung out two days each week after school as well as on Saturdays. They’d managed a few makeout sessions in Jongdae’s car that had left Sehun weak-kneed and dizzy with want, but that had been all.

Jongin had looked at her with raised brows when she’d told her that she was having Jongdae stay over for the weekend with the intention of doing more than makeout, asking Sehun if she thought they were moving kind of fast. And they were. But the difference was (at least based on Sehun’s analysis) that they were both girls. And girls tended to open up and get close a lot faster than boys did (not all- Jongin was a perfect example of that not holding true). So Sehun wanting to have sex with her girlfriend after dating for two weeks was the equivalent of a girl wanting to have sex with her boyfriend after dating for two months. Which, Sehun had learned talking to the other cheerleaders in the locker room, happened all the time.

And even if she was totally wrong about all of that, she still wanted Jongdae, so fuck the rest.

“We’ll sleep in my room,” Sehun said, leading the way up the stairs- stomach twisting and heart pounding now that she really did have Jongdae all to herself with no one to interrupt them.

Jongdae set her bag down on the floor and flopped on Sehun’s bed. “Comfy,” she commented.

Seeing Jongdae in her ripped up denim skirt, her band tee, and her knee-high tube socks, sprawled on her pink and white striped comforter was kind of surreal, but that didn’t stop the rush of heat that washed over her at the visual.

She must have been staring pretty obviously because Jongdae shot her an amused smirk.

“Care to join me?”

Sehun flushed, but sat down on the edge of the bed as Jongdae sat up, their eyes meeting before their lips pressed and Sehun allowed herself to be swept away by kissing Jongdae- the slide of lips and twist of tongues familiar by then. But when the heat between them was enough to have Sehun craving more, shifting on the bed to ease the ache between her thighs, they weren’t forced to pull away and calm down before Jongdae drove her home. Instead, Sehun felt Jongdae’s fingers tease her hip where the waistband of her mini skirt met her skin and the touch had her shivering.

Sehun allowed herself to be maneuvered so she was lying down with Jongdae half on top of her, lips still moving together as Jongdae’s hands roamed over her torso and her own hands clutched at Jongdae’s shoulders. The need in her was rising and it was getting harder and harder not to start begging for Jongdae to touch her where she wanted it, how she’d imagined Jongdae touching her as she’d brought herself to orgasm multiple times in the past couple weeks.

“Just because we’re here alone doesn’t mean we have to do anything,” Jongdae told her, lips disengaging from Sehun’s with a wet smack, “If you want to wait, we ca-“

“No!” Sehun said and then flushed at how desperate she’d sounded, “I don’t want to wait. I want- unless you want to wait!”

Jongdae’s lips curved up in that way that had Sehun’s pulse thundering in her ears.

“I don’t want to wait either,” Jongdae told her, fingers lightly drawing patterns against her stomach and making her muscles jump, “I really, really like you, Sehun,” Jongdae added, serious now as she met Sehun’s eyes dead-on, “I’m not fucking around.”

“Me too,” Sehun breathed, head light and heart fluttering at Jongdae’s admission, “I mean, me neither. I mean,” she flushed under Jongdae’s amused gaze, “I really like you too.”

Jongdae grinned and then kissed her again- a knee-weakening, passionate kiss that had Sehun whimpering into her mouth as she grasped at the back of Jongdae’s neck to keep her where she was.

When Jongdae’s fingers danced up the inside of her thigh and dragged along the edge of her panties, Sehun couldn’t stop the way she angled her hips into the touch, so desperate to have Jongdae’s fingers on her. But while it was a little embarrassing to be so eager, Sehun could see how blown Jongdae’s eyes were as she pulled back to look at her, and she knew that she wasn’t the only one wanting.

Spreading her thighs in invitation, Sehun groaned appreciatively as Jongdae rubbed her through her underwear- the fabric already damp with her arousal.

“Please, please,” Sehun begged, less worried about sounding too needy than she was about getting those fingers where she desperately wanted them.

Jongdae rolled off her to settle on her side next to Sehun, urging her to face her. Then she hoisted Sehun’s knee onto her hip so her thighs stayed parted before she reached between them and slipped her hand into Sehun’s panties.

Sehun sighed at the slick slide, rolling her hips into the movements of Jongdae's hand to get as much friction as possible. It was so good and oh, it wasn't going to last long. Not with the way Jongdae was nosing along her jaw and pressing kisses to her neck as her fingers worked against Sehun like she'd touched her countless times before.

“I'm-” Sehun tried, feeling her groin tighten with her impending release, “Jongdae, I-”

“Go ahead,” Jongdae murmured into the skin of her throat, sending another pulse of need through her.

With a whimper, Sehun climaxed against Jongdae's teasing fingers- body clenching and pleasure drenching her until she was sucking in greedy lungfuls of air as Jongdae brought her down.

“Oh my god,” she whined, torn between embarrassment at coming so quickly and deep contentment from how satisfying it was.

“You're so gorgeous,” Jongdae told her, leaning up to connect their lips again.

And while Sehun may have been blissed out and lethargic from her orgasm, she couldn't forget about how Jongdae had yet to find her release. So Sehun brought her leg down and hesitantly reached between Jongdae's thighs to knead against her core through her underwear. It was with a moan that matched Jongdae's in volume that she felt just how wet the other girl was against her palm.

“Can I-” she started, thumbing along the elastic waistband of Jongdae's underwear only to be cut off by Jongdae's pleading yes.

It was her first time touching another girl like this, but her nerves fell away as she realized how much she enjoyed Jongdae's responses- breathtaking moans and gasps as she held onto Sehun's arms with a vice grip. Jongdae threw her leg around Sehun's hip, heel digging into the back of Sehun's thigh as Sehun fingered her- feeling the way Jongdae's slick walls clenched and squeezed around her long fingers.

She loved everything about bringing Jongdae pleasure, from the way her eyebrows were furrowed and her mouth hung open as she panted to the way her toes curled in her socks with every pass of Sehun's fingers over her clit. Sehun couldn't help that she could feel herself pulsing again- worked up from just experiencing what Jongdae looked like when she was about to come.

With her left hand, Sehun hastily shoved the crotch of her own panties to the side to press against her aching center- sighing in relief as she continued to pump her fingers in and out of Jongdae until the other girl started babbling that she was close.

Sehun watched as Jongdae shook through her orgasm- thighs trembling and moans spilling from her kiss-swollen lips as she curled in on herself from the intensity of her release- and found herself nearly at the brink again as well.

When Jongdae opened her eyes, she didn't miss the way Sehun's fingers were desperately working against herself- eyebrows raising in surprise before she smirked.

“Again?” she asked and Sehun whined, lower lip clamped between her teeth and too turned on to be embarrassed.

Jongdae knocked her hand away and rubbed circles over Sehun's clit that had Sehun arching and moaning brokenly through her second orgasm, her release dribbling over Jongdae's fingers as she throbbed with the pleasure that was even greater than the first time around.

Relaxing back into the mattress as Jongdae pulled her hand away, Sehun felt like she might never be able to move again.

“Before this becomes an endless cycle,” Jongdae said, leaning over to press a kiss to Sehun's lips, “Or before you fall asleep, let's get cleaned up and get dinner. I'm hungry.”

Sehun made a few token discontent sounds before allowing Jongdae to drag her from the bed and toward the bathroom.

As they ate pizza at Sehun's kitchen table later, Sehun couldn't help but wonder if it was possible to be any happier than she was right then.

(When she voiced her thoughts out loud, Jongdae suggested that maybe it was possible with three orgasms instead of two. Sehun threw a grease soaked napkin at her, but had to admit that she had a point.)

\---  
\---

You work too much, they'd said to her, Just come out tonight. You'll have fun. I promise.

Sehun was lucky that she was Jongin's best friend. Somehow still after all these years.

When people told Jongin that she worked too hard, she found it very difficult to see their point of view. Because while she did work extremely hard, she did it for a reason. She'd taken the maximum number of hours every semester in college and worked full-time in order to save up money. After college, she'd used her savings to open up her own dance studio, and now she worked constantly in order to run and maintain it, as well as teach half the classes herself.

So, maybe she worked more than most people. But that was because she was working toward something. If she didn't work so hard to keep her studio running, who would?

But Sehun had bugged her incessantly to keep this Friday free, so she had. If only so Sehun would stop flooding her phone with texts that threatened to tie her up and throw her in the back of a van to take her out if she didn't come willingly.

Jongin supposed that it could be worse. They could have wanted to do something stupid, like drag her to a bar to hook her up with someone. As it was, she was at a bar, but it was to see the band who Jongdae was the manager for play a showcase to celebrate getting signed to a major label. It was a big deal and Jongin knew that Sehun was thrilled for her girlfriend, so it was the least she could do to come show her support as well.

Though she was regretting it a bit as Sehun looked at her judgmentally.

“That's your idea of dressing for a rock concert?” Sehun asked disdainfully.

Jongin looked down at her black tank top and black skinny jeans.

“What's wrong with it?”

Sehun scoffed like dignifying that with an answer would pain her. Though considering what she was wearing- a nearly see-through white tank top with a neon yellow bra, black leather leggings, and giant platform heels- Jongin could see how her outfit might not have been up to Sehun's standards. But based on what the rest of the people were wearing, Jongin thought she looked fine.

“I really hate those shoes,” Jongdae complained to Sehun, coming back from the bar with drinks for all of them. She wasn't dressed nearly as ostentatiously as Sehun, though that wasn't a surprise. She was in a pair of wingtip loafers, a tweed mini skirt, and a chiffon blouse through which her black bra was visible. Apparently Jongin had missed the bra must be visible at all times memo.

“Why?” Sehun pouted, fiddling with her waist-length rainbow hair unhappily, “These shoes are awesome.”

“I feel even shorter than usual next to you,” Jongdae replied with a self-deprecating smirk.

“Aw,” Sehun cooed, reaching out to pat Jongdae's cheek only to have her hand slapped playfully away, “That's cute.”

“Anyway,” Jongdae turned toward Jongin, bright red lips stretching across her teeth in a friendly smile, “I'm really glad you could make it.”

“It was no problem,” Jongin assured her and Sehun scoffed.

“Please, I practically had to threaten you to get you here.”

“No, I said I'd come, but you threatened me anyway,” Jongin reminded her.

Sehun shrugged, “I had to be sure you'd really show up.”

“Have you told Jongin about your new project?” Jongdae asked, putting a hand on Sehun's waist and adjusting her thick, black-rimmed glasses.

Sehun beamed before putting on her I'm an artist, take me seriously look.

“I'm working on a series of abstract paintings of vaginas in faded neon,” she said airily, flipping her long hair over her shoulder.

Jongin blinked, “Don't you mean pastel?”

Sehun made a sound of derision so loud the people next to them turned to look, “No, I mean faded neon.”

“I asked the same thing,” Jongdae assured Jongin with a conspiratorial smile.

“It's obvious why I'm the only artist among us,” Sehun observed haughtily and Jongdae just laughed, pulling Sehun down for a kiss which had her cooler than thou attitude dropping in an instant only to be replaced by a giddy smile.

Jongin kind of wondered if Jongdae got annoyed with Sehun sometimes since they lived together, but then Jongin remembered that she and Sehun had been best friends for fifteen years, so she really couldn't judge.

“So, how about the band you manage?” Jongin asked, glad when Jongdae stopped grossly teasing Sehun to look over.

If she wanted to see her friends be all lovey-dovey, she’d make more time to hang out with them, to be honest.

“They’re called the Hellcats,” Jongdae told her, face lighting up, “And I’ve actually known them since high school. They’ve had some line-up changes, so after my friend took over the spot of lead vocalist, I kind of became the unofficial manager. That was in college and I was in school for econ at the time, but then I switched to music business and became their actual manager. Obviously, we’ve been shopping around for a good record deal and about a month ago, we got a great offer.”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” Jongin marveled, honestly impressed, “I can’t wait to hear them play!”

Jongdae smiled and Sehun preened as though she could take some sort of credit for any part of that story. Perhaps she thought that her presence inspired success. Or maybe, Jongin allowed as she saw the way Sehun’s arm curved around Jongdae’s waist, she was just really proud of her girlfriend. The sweet look they exchanged made Jongin feel like she was intruding on a private moment.

But then the lights dimmed as the crowd started cheering, and Jongin, along with every other person in the room, found her eyes drawn to the stage.

When the band came out and the stage lights hit them, Jongin felt her breath catch. And it wasn’t because of the gangly drummer with the big ears and the pretty face. It wasn’t because of the lead guitarist’s dimples when he smiled out at the crowd. It wasn’t due to the intimidating presence of the bassist and the insane amount of piercings he had. No, it was all because of the lead singer whom she had recognized immediately despite not having seen her in over six years.

Center stage with bright blonde hair and a charismatic gaze that had the room under her spell was Lu Han. Her hair was cut to above her ear on one side and angled down to come to a point that ended below her chin on the other (Jongin thought that almost anyone else would have looked ridiculous with that style, but Lu Han looked undeniably good), she had a few piercings that glinted in the light in each ear, and her eyes were lined with black, but it was definitely her.

Dressed like a rockstar, she was in an oversized muscle t-shirt with a lacy, black bra underneath that was very visible when she turned to the side (seriously, where was the rule that everyone’s bra had to be showing?), short, short, short denim cut-offs, black thigh-high stockings, and chunky leather combat boots.  
There were so many things that were the same as Jongin remembered from high school, but at the same time, Jongin couldn’t get over how sexy and womanly she looked. Maybe it was the fact that she was jumping around onstage and belting out lyrics into a microphone, but Jongin couldn’t look away, not even to ask Sehun to make 100 percent sure that this gorgeous, hypnotizing woman was, indeed, Lu Han from high school.

Even though she knew it was her without having to ask. There was just no mistaking it. And Jongin had, admittedly, thought about Lu Han over the years.

She still didn’t tend to date due to her busy schedule that left her unmotivated to waste her time on someone who would probably disappoint her, but she had at least gained some insight into her dating preferences since high school- namely that she was attracted to women, which explained why turning Lu Han down was so much harder than it had been to turn down any of the guys that had asked her out.

The rest of the set went by in a blur with Jongin unable to look away from Lu Han the entire time. Not only was she...well, hot, (and boy, was she damn hot) she was also really talented. As was the rest of the band. She could see why they'd gotten a record deal and why Jongdae was so excited about them.

When the Hellcats exited the stage after their encore, Sehun turned to her and excitedly shook her shoulder.

“They're good, right?” she demanded and Jongin nodded, taking the opportunity to tell Jongdae just how much she'd enjoyed the show.

But then they were interrupted by someone body slamming into Jongdae from behind and knocking her forward as arms wrapped around her shoulders.

Jongdae laughed and stepped aside to let Lu Han into their little circle of conversation.

“Lu Han, you remember Jongin from high school, right?”

Jongin froze, wanting to be swallowed alive by a wildebeest. She should have immediately known that she'd have to come face to face with Lu Han given that Jongdae was the Hellcats' manager and also Lu Han's best friend, but nonetheless, she hadn’t been prepared for this.

“Of course,” Lu Han said, managing to sound a lot cooler than Jongin would have been able to in that moment, but her expression gave away her surprise at seeing her there.

“It's nice to see you again,” Jongin managed to choke out, feeling her face flame at the way all three women were staring at her like they were waiting for her to do something socially acceptable.

“You too,” Lu Han replied, sending her a smile, but it was a much more guarded smile than Jongin remembered.

“Jongdae, come with me to the bathroom,” Sehun whined, tugging at Jongdae’s wrist and pouting like a kid.

Jongdae barked out a laugh.

“Excuse me a moment, I have to take the child to the bathroom.”

Sehun made a protesting noise, but dragged her off anyway, so Jongin and Lu Han were left alone.

The look Sehun shot at Jongin over her shoulder immediately told her that it was no accident.

She was going to kill Sehun.

“So, uh...you guys were really good,” Jongin started, not liking the way Lu Han's eyes seemed almost sad even as she could see the defensive set of her jaw.

It was dumb because it wasn't like they'd dated. Or even known each other that well. And it had been years ago. But Jongin still felt all of the nervous anticipation surge up like she was seventeen again and she guessed that Lu Han was taken back to that time as well.

“Thanks,” Lu Han nodded and Jongin wasn't sure if it was worse to pretend that she hadn't rejected Lu Han in high school or worse to acknowledge it.

After a moment during which Jongin wanted to die from awkwardness, she decided to just bite the bullet.

“Sorry about…back in high school,” she said and Lu Han’s face tightened, “I was really rude to you and I’ve regretted it a lot over the years.”

Lu Han nodded, “It’s fine.”

“It wasn’t you,” Jongin tried to explain, “I mean, it was you because I didn’t have any problem turning anyone else away.”

By the look on Lu Han’s face, Jongin wasn’t doing a good job of expressing her feelings.

She huffed in frustration at herself and tugged angrily on her ponytail.

“I didn’t have any interest in dating during high school,” she tried again, “So whenever anyone tried to ask me out, I just brushed them off. And I never had any second thoughts about it because I didn’t feel any attraction to them. But you…you were the first person I actually…was into, I guess. Except I wasn’t really ready to deal with anything like that- dating or liking women or anything. So I was just frustrated with myself and I took it out on you. I’m sorry.”

By the time she’d finished, Lu Han’s expression was less closed off, though she still seemed a bit wary.

“I really am sorry,” Jongin repeated, suddenly so desperate to right the wrongs of her past, “I’ve…thought about you a lot since high school, and I regret…I don’t know.”

“Is this an apology or are you trying to ask for another chance?” Lu Han asked then and Jongin’s eye widened.

“U-uh,” she stuttered out, caught off guard by the familiar twinkle in Lu Han’s eyes, “Both?”

She hadn’t actually been asking for a second chance because she never, ever thought she’d be granted one. But if Lu Han was maybe, possibly willing to give her one…?

“Hmm,” Lu Han hummed, mischief in her eyes that had Jongin’s heart pounding in anticipation, “And why should I give you another chance? I could have anyone in this room right now.”

Jongin didn’t doubt it.

“I could even have Zitao and he has an exclusive interest in dicks,” she added when the bass player brushed by them on the way to the bar.

The bass player, Zitao presumably, scoffed, “You wish.”

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten that time you got drunk and propositioned me,” Lu Han reminded him with a devilish grin.

“I was wasted,” Zitao huffed and Lu Han shrugged.

With a roll of his eyes, Zitao continued on to the bar and Lu Han looked back at Jongin.

“So, as you can see, I could have anyone,” she reiterated with a pleased smirk, “So why should I give the one person present who’s rejected me another chance?”

Jongin opened her mouth and closed it again before finally saying, “I don’t know. I can’t think of anything.”

Lu Han seemed to dramatically ponder that for a moment before she smiled, that same smile she’d had in high school that always had Jongin’s heart racing.

“Well, I can think of some,” she told her, stepping forward, “You’re just as cute as you were in high school, for one.”

Jongin flushed, sucking her lower lip into her mouth.

“And you’re sweet,” she continued, sliding the palm of her hand down Jongin’s arm, “And you have a really nice ass.”

Jongin laughed in shock at the last one, but Lu Han was just grinning at her- hand clasped loosely around her wrist.

“Will you go out with me this time?” Lu Han asked, so close that Jongin could see the places where her makeup had smudged from sweating onstage.

She nodded and Lu Han closed the gap between them, kissing her chastely before pulling away.

“It’s about time,” she teased and Jongin giggled, resting her forehead against Lu Han’s and feeling Lu Han’s laugh huff against her lips.

Maybe it should have been obvious from the beginning, but better late than never.

As Lu Han pressed a kiss to the corner of Jongin’s mouth before pulling away to smile at her so widely the skin around her eyes creased, Jongin couldn’t contain her answering grin. And this time around, she felt no need to.

**Author's Note:**

> Decided I ought to crosspost this finally. 
> 
> Come chat with me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/g_odalisque13).


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